Readers' comments

Kan has "lack of leadership?" I would accuse his party of lack of ability to follow the best leader Japan has had since WWII. In spite of being harassed continually by all major media and the political elite of both parties, Kan has presided over a surprisingly rapid recovery from a huge disaster. His program is to reign in nuclear power (obviously no-one here trusts any power company), move to renewables (guess who is against), and raise the consumption tax (obvious to the entire world) - an issue he courageously ran the last election on...was ridiculed for...and will now enact. This is being feral? Please ask your correspondent to spend a bit more time out of the press club, and with younger Japanese people.

Stick2DaTruf wrote:
Is there no other solution other than constantly seeking a PM to step down?

--------Japan should build a specific factory in order to product more prime ministers efficiently.Now I believe that the product of prime ministers are in great demand every year in Japan.Japan needs a new prime minister every day or every week.

Japan is facing massive fiscal headwinds and had its debt downgraded for the second time in January 2011. Here is an examination of the debt issues facing Japan and how the Kan government has been unable to control debt growth:

Yeh, the article is not bad because you show ninja Naoto Kan’s embarrassment in contrast with a stubborn mule called Koizumi Junichiro. Very smart writing style can impress on many readers. Although Naoto Kan might hand his seat over to the other same party’s figure, DPJ may still hold power continuously. Rather than the last LDP ‘s then prime minister Taro Aso, it’s not unfortunate for Mr. Kan to step down by this way. At least, the funny LDP who is only seen as a mess cannot retake power in recent time.

Prior to the disaster Mr Kan started reforming the tax system to try and give companies a breather and to encourage foreign investment (tax breaks for research facilities). At the time he seemed to be more focused on practical policies than the irrational popularism of Ishihara Shintaro and the like.

The "Ganbare Nihon" slogan we see sounds a little lame to me, but I would say "Ganbare Kan"

Kan's survival is more a result of his stubbornness than by being nimble. The public has seen the current bunch of LDP and DPJ politicians for what they are - ready to use a disaster to in their own power-struggles, good at bickering and not good at forming a view on difficult policies. I think the choice for them is simple, start debating the 3 bills, or face up to your voters in a snap election.

By showing he's willing to do whatever it takes to advance his bills, Kan's finally moving the focus from politicking to actual policies. While I may not agree with his bills (I think the public is anti-monopolistic electric utilities rather than anti-nuclear) I think he at least is doing his job of talking policies not politicks.

"If Kan is trying to set up a Nuclear Election on August 7th (Nearest Sunday to the Hiroshima anniversary), then he actually needs to dissolve the Diet on or around another historical date: July 14th."

Don't you mean "historic"? What is the relevance of July 14th (Bastille Day) to Japan? None, I suspect.

Gerontocracy has its merits, but it is becoming abundantly clear after 3.11 that it is no longer working for Japan. The current Japanese political arena is not heterogeneous nor pluralist enough, and the Asian hierarchical social a structure is a vice as well as a virtue and needs to be shaken up a bit.